Researchers at DTU and UC Berkeley, together with spin-out company OptoCeutics, have invented a non-medical form of therapy that can improve brain activity: light-based deep brain stimulation that induces a specific type of brain wave that Alzheimer's patients benefit from.
Clinical trials conducted by doctors at Zealand University Hospital in Roskilde have shown a beneficial effect in preliminary studies on people with Alzheimer's where these gamma brain waves were induced: The results suggest that patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's experienced improved cognitive abilities in relation to e.g., speech and memory.
A study involving more participants is underway to confirm the results.
DTU Professor Paul Michael Petersen, one of the inventors of the technology, says that the idea for the device is based on research from MIT. Nearly 10 years ago, their research showed that when mice with Alzheimer's were exposed to blinking lights, gamma brain waves were induced which in turn reduced plaque caused by beta-amyloid proteins in the brain.
"However, blinking lights are not particularly sound because they can cause discomfort and, in the worst case, epileptic seizures, so we wanted to investigate whether we could achieve the same effect but in a gentler way," Paul Michael Petersen explains.
The professor, who is an expert in light, came up with the idea of developing a device that had the same effect as blinking lights, but where users would not detect that the light was blinking. The technology they developed achieves a beneficial effect on the brain while avoiding several negative side effects.
